Notes and Editorial Reviews

Szymon Laks - the number 49543 in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, was an outstanding composer, violinist, writer, a passionate linguist and translator, admitted that it was music that saved his life: in the extermination camp where he was from 1942 to 1944, he was a kapellmeister, musician, and copyist of the male orchestra. It was also there that he arranged and performed together with instrumentalists-prisoners Three Warsaw Polonaises by an unknown author from the 18th century for a chamber orchestra. They were found by accident and published by the Polish Music Publishing House already in 1950 and became the first published camp music literature. The Messages Quartet, established in 2014, focuses on 20th and 21st centuryRead more Polish music, particularly promoting the works that are still being discovered and are rarely performed. The name of the ensemble refers to the famous String Quartet No. 2 “Messages” by Andrzej Panufnik. The Messages Quartet was created in the year of the 100th anniversary of Panufnik’s birthday- 2014. The musicians of the Quartet are graduates of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Academy of Music in Krakow. They also graduated from the solo studies and from masterclasses at European universities. Apart from the concert activity, they also dedicate themselves to teaching at the Academy of Music in Katowice and Krakow. Read less